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Curse Workers series
The Curse Workers series by Holly Black. Genres and Sub-Genres Young Adult Urban Fantasy Brief Series Description or Overview Cassel comes from a family of Curse Workers - people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they're all criminals. Many become mobsters and con artists. But not Cassel. He hasn't got magic, so he's an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail - he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago. Cassel has carefully built up a facade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his facade starts to crumble when he finds himself sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He's noticing other disturbing things too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him. As Cassel begins to suspect he's part of a huge con game, he must unravel his past and his memories. To find out the truth, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen. ~ Goodreads | White Cat Lead's Species * non-magic curse worker family Primary Supe * Curse workers What Sets it Apart * Narrative Type and Narrators *1st-person present; Cassel Sharpe Books in Series Curse Workers series: #White Cat (2010) #Red Glove (2011) #Black Heart (2012) Other Series by Author onsite * Modern Tale of Faerie World Building Setting New Jersey Places: * Wallingford: The boarding school Cassel attends Princeton New York Atlantic City Supernatural Elements ✥ Curse workers, witches, faeries, magic users, Glossary: * (Curse) Worker: A person with the ability to effect others' luck, life, memory, etc. with just the touch of a hand. Contact must be between bare skin, which is why the citizens within these stories wear gloves everywhere. Anyone who can do curse work. There are seven types: **luck, dreams, physical, emotion, memory, death, and transformation * a mark: The target of a con, the person you are trying to scam. * HBG: abbreviation of Hyperbathygammic (or Heebeegeebies), the long medical term for worker, to save space. * Blowback: Side effect of curse working. Different types of working results in different reactions, all negative. 'Groups & Organizations': * HEX: advocacy group that wants to make working legal again—so laws against more serious works can be better enforced. * Licensed Minority Division: A federal agency that recruits workers World The world of curse workers is fantastically written. it is a perfect example of an alternate world that has revolved around curse workers and their way around in society. A great example of this is Australia. Australia in our universe was basically made of convicts. All sent from Britain. However in Cassels universe, it was founded by curse workers, which in his universe are the equivalent of convicts. the government system is basically the same, however teenage curse workers if they are found by the government are sent to training resumes, where they learn to "control" their work (Cassels grandpa tells him that they just train them to not use it), and look around and act as police. Curses There are 7 types of curses Dream Curse - Has the power to control the marks dream and send them sleepwalking Blowback - not mentioned Luck - Has the power to either give good or bad luck Blowback - depending on whether the worker gives bad or good luck. If the worker gives someone good luck then the worker will get good luck and vice versa Death - The power to instantly take the life away from a living creature Blowback - Rots away part of the marks body. Transformation - Can transform anything living or dead to anything. Take note that if the worker transforms something living to a non living thing then transform the non living thing back to a living thing, the thing will not survive the process. (jez that was confusing) Blowback - intense random transformation, e.g. multiple heads, three tongues. Emotion - The power to change someones emotional state on something or in general just change their emotional state Blowback - The curser will become unstable and not be able to respond well to stress and anger Memory - There are 4 different things a memory worker can do. 1. Shuffle though someones memories and look at them. 2. Put a block in-front of a memory so the person cannot see it. 3. Rip out a memory. 4. Replace a memory with something else. Blowback - The worker will 'strip mine' his own memory. Physical - Can harm or help a living being. e.g reduce or remove cancers. Blowback - Makes the user sick Protagonist ✥ Cassel Sharpe: Born to a family full of Curse Workers, Cassel doesn't fit in. He has no powers, but a dark secret, a murder in his past, the details of which are fuzzy. Things are about to get flipped when he starts dreaming about a white cat. Book Cover Blurbs ✤ BOOK ONE—White Cat (2010): Cassel comes from a family of Curse Workers - people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they're all criminals. Many become mobsters and con artists. But not Cassel. He hasn't got magic, so he's an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail - he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago. Cassel has carefully built up a facade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his facade starts to crumble when he finds himself sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He's noticing other disturbing things too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him. As Cassel begins to suspect he's part of a huge con game, he must unravel his past and his memories. To find out the truth, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen. ~ Goodreads | White Cat ✤ BOOK TWO—Red Glove (2011): The cons get craftier and the stakes rise ever higher in the riveting sequel to White Cat. After rescuing his brothers from Zacharov’s retribution, Cassel is trying to reestablish some kind of normalcy in his life. That was never going to be easy for someone from a worker family that’s tied to one of the big crime families—and whose mother’s cons get more reckless by the day. But Cassel is coming to terms with what it means to be a worker, and he’s figuring out how to have friends. Except normal doesn’t last very long. Soon Cassel is being courted by both sides of the law and is forced to confront his past—a past he remembers only in scattered fragments, and one that could destroy his family and his future. Cassel will have to decide whose side he wants to be on, because neutrality is not an option. And then he will have to pull off his biggest con ever to survive…. ~ Red Glove (Curse Workers, #2) by Holly Black ✤ BOOK THREE—Black Heart (2012): In a world where Magic is illegal. Cassel Sharpe has the most deadly ability of all. With one touch, he can transform any object - including a person - into something else entirely. And that makes him a wanted man. The Feds are willing to forgive all his past crimes if he'll only leave his con artist family behind and go straight. But why does going straight feel so crooked? For one thing, it means being on the opposite side of the law from Lila, the girl he loves. She's the daughter of a mob boss and getting ready to join the family business herself. Though Cassel is pretty sure she can never love him back, he can't stop obsessing over her. Which would be bad enough, even if her father wasn't keeping Cassel's mother prisoner in a posh apartment and threatening not to let her leave until she returns the priceless diamond she scammed off him years ago. Too bad she can't remember where she put it. The Feds say they need Cassel to get rid of a powerful man who is spinning dangerously out of control. But if they want Cassel to use his unique talent to hurt people, what separates the good guys from the bad ones? Or is everyone just out to con him? Time is running out, and all Cassel's magic and cleverness might not be enough to save him. With no easy answers and no one he can trust, love might be the most dangerous gamble of all. ~ Black Heart (Curse Workers, #3) by Holly Black Category:Series